Heatwave: 40 Deaths by Drowning since June 18th, Record for the Hottest Night… Follow the situation

France is in the middle of a heatwave and the temperatures will rise again this Tuesday, 23rd June 2026. The absolute temperature record could well fall.

France is suffocating and everyone is trying to manage as best they can this situation which is less and less unprecedented. This Tuesday 23rd June 2026, France should, in all likelihood, beat the sad heat record established on August 5th, 2003.

Red vigilance heatwave will concern, this Tuesday, 39 million French people spread across 54 departments. 35 others are placed on orange alert, and the last 7 in yellow. So, all of France is affected by this heatwave alert.

Pour lundi 22 juin 2026 :
🔴49 départements en vigilance rouge
🟠40 départements en vigilance orange
Pour mardi 23 juin 2026 :
🔴54 départements en vigilance rouge
🟠35 départements en vigilance orange
Restez prudents et informés : https://t.co/h3so1yk2rI pic.twitter.com/4RGpaO0Q3v
— VigiMétéoFrance (@VigiMeteoFrance) June 22, 2026

Yesterday, several absolute temperature records have already been broken. They could fall again this Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the great resourcefulness continues in the schools. A total of 1,352 schools and colleges were closed on Monday in France due to the heatwave, while 4,042 others carried out various developments.

Sébastien Lecornu announces reinforced mobilization of the health system

Sébastien Lecornu announced a strengthening of the mobilization of the health system in the face of the heatwave raging in the country, by activating the Orsan plan at level 2 of 4.

This decision will make it possible to strengthen medical regulation capacities, mobilize the personnel necessary for the operation of the hospital, guarantee full coordination between community medicine, hospitals, clinics and nursing homes, and adapt activities if the situation requires it.
Sébastien Lecornu – Prime Minister

The Orsan plan makes it possible to “organize the ramp-up of the health system in the face of a major heatwave” and “to gradually activate levers on the hospital, the Samu, community medicine and medico-social depending on the level of tension”, according to the Ministry of Health.

The concrete neighborhoods are suffocating

The heat is such that in the La Défense business district, near Paris, one of the factories which cool the towers is unable to fully replenish its ice stocks at night, its director told AFP, in admitting that “the temperature will be degraded”.

Air conditioning could be impacted. The Villejean district, west of Rennes, is made up of bars and towers of buildings, up to twenty floors. We learn that life is very difficult there these scorching temperatures.

The electricity network under voltage

Enedis alerts on an increased risk of power outages in the coming days. The culprit: the heatwave and its intense heat which tension the equipment.

As the nights are hot, the asphalt “stores heat and diffuses it continuously”, explains Enedis. A few meters under the asphalt, we find cables, junctions and all other “permanently used” equipment.

“The electrical network then comes up against a discreet enemy: persistent heat which prevents the equipment from cooling. Weakened insulation, an overused junction, a cable which no longer evacuates enough heat can trigger automatic protections which cut off the power supply in order to avoid a more serious incident, explains Enedis.

The number of drowning deaths is still rising

The heatwave currently raging in France has caused ” 40 dead” by drowning since June 18th, “mainly young people”, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced on Tuesday.

“A sad scourge”, he lamented, while he chairs a new interministerial crisis unit, on the seventh day of the heatwave.

The record for the hottest night broken

There night from Monday June 22 to Tuesday June 23, 2026 was the hottest recorded in the territory since 1947, according to AFP.

The national thermal indicator (NTI) of minimum temperatures, average over 30 reference stations, is 21.6°C, according to provisional values noted this Tuesday morning by the national forecaster Météo-france. The previous record was 21.4°C and dates back to July 25th, 2019. The highest temperature recorded last night was 28.7°C in Pouzauges (Vendée).

A Ligue 2 player brain dead

Lyon firefighters intervened urgently on the banks of the Rhône in Caluire-et-Cuire, where four people were being sucked in by a “strong current” at the Feyssine Falls.

The four victims were able to be lifted out of the water, but one of them a professional football player from a Ligue 2 club, was taken to hospital brain dead, according to our local editorial staff Newslyon.

Two people were extracted “at the last minute”, without the need for medical treatment, while a third was taken out of the water then resuscitated and evacuated in relative emergency. The football player remained untraceable, before being pulled out of the water by emergency services, then resuscitated on site and transported urgently.

While no Ligue 2 club in the region had communicated at this stage, Newslyon revealed that it was Kenzo Kies.

Taken into hospital between life and death, the 21-year-old professional football player playing as a striker had worked for OL and ASSE before joining l’en Avant Guingamp, where he was registered until recently in the reserve team.

“Around twenty deaths” by drowning

These figures are chilling. Since Saturday, around “twenty deaths” per swim were recorded, according to the Minister of Sports Marina Ferrari, guest this morning on France Inter.